EAST BROAD TOP BEING SOLD PIECE BY PIECE

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:17 am

I'm in Prescott, AZ right now, and as I recall that stack of EBT photos from Forrest Gesswein didn't have any close-ups of anything in that yard.

Get in touch via the multiple contacts below this text sometime after two weeks, please......

ebtfanatic231 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:15 am **Posts:** 16

Hey Alexander,

Perhaps you don't remember those photos you posted on this forum? There is one called a "1954 shot of the Mt. Union yard" including a great photo of the engine house and the coal trestle beside it. If you look maybe you will see that photo. I am wondering how many other color photos you have of that yard and trestle, and I hope you have some pics of the entire trestle in color. I also did not see any contacts below your text.

Bob Mohler

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Jul 03, 2013 2:05 am

Short, sweet, to the bloody point:

The photo I posted here came from my posting on the Facebook page of the Baltimore Chapter NRHS. That photo was one of several our volunteer slide scanners had scanned of a bunch of slides of the EBT in the 1954 time frame, shot by Forrest Gesswein.

I posted 3-4 on the Chapter FB page of this shot and Saltillo:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baltimor ... 5824370567

There were a few other shots in that particular set passed off to me of Robertsdale, etc. There were no other shots of the Mt. Union yard that I remember, and certainly nothing of the timber trestle, etc. If you're looking for shots of those structures, go ask the FEBT or buy the requisite EBT books.

RSwinnerton · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:32 pm **Posts:** 198

I just looked at those EBT pictures. I grew up in Saltillo and remember when the water tank burned. However, the photo captions are slightly incorrect. The track in both pictures is still there, as it is across the bridge.

Incidentally, I grew up in LaPalace Hotel, which would have been to the photographer's right in the station picture.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:12 am

When you need a metal detector and/or a shovel to find rails, "the track is gone":

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Saltillo ... s&t=h&z=20

Loco112 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:25 pm

If the EBT is being sold off, we need to buy the important parts that can not be replaced.

Last I heard the equipment blueprints were in their traditional (for the last 40 years) location that Mr. Wilburn had them placed, still waiting for a single fire to destroy them all forever, and there were no backup copies in any other collections.

Please let me know if that has changed!

EBTRRM1 · **Joined:** Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:34 pm **Posts:** 34

The equipment blueprints are in their traditional location. A concrete and fire brick vault/bunker that could take everything except a direct nuclear strike.

Loco112 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:53 am

By your description that sounds like a much better location than where they were located up until the late 90's. Back then they were in a wooden structure and it was not temp/humidity controlled.

Maybe their storage location got upgraded. Is it temp and humidity controlled now?

They still need to be duplicated and the second set stored off site. Maybe the US Parks dept. or the Smithsonian or some other Archive, like the PN State, could be convinced to pick up the tab to scan the archive.

Phil Raynes · **Posted:** Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:48 am

In response to the comments about the track in Saltillo, I can affirm Russell's contention that the rail is still there. The rail was not allowed to be removed, so (from what I recall) local folk covered the rails with dirt so grass could grow & cover them. I will attach a couple of photos showing my ex-EBT ST-2 speeder ON the rails in front of the station, shortly before it was torn down. This was after receiving permission from Stanley Hall to do this. Russell's father (Mike) & I operated from the station towards Three Springs for about 100 yards until we hit out of gauge track and could go no further. This was the last rail vehicle to operate on these tracks before the station was removed.

RSwinnerton · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:32 pm **Posts:** 198

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

When you need a metal detector and/or a shovel to find rails, "the track is gone":

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Saltillo ... s&t=h&z=20

Ummm. What kind of definition is that? If the rails are there, they're there. Looking at a relatively grainy satellite photo is hardly justification to say one way or the other. Either way, most of the rail at Saltillo still sees sunlight and one simply needs to clear grass off the top to expose the railhead. Rather than guess from a grainy picture, maybe asking those who are intimately familiar with the area would be better policy.

ebtfanatic231 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:15 am **Posts:** 16

Anybody know of Forest Gesswein is still alive?

Bob

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:14 am

ebtfanatic231 wrote:

Anybody know of Forest Gesswein is still alive?

The Baltimore Chapter got Gesswein's rail photo collection when he passed away some years ago. I've posted a variety of his stuff on the Baltimore Chapter's Facebook page.

Look, guys, for every guy whose photos you may have seen through the "usual" sources and books, there are scads of other photos that basically duplicate them and one another. The EBT didn't operate in a vacuum, and I swear that every inch of track was photographed multiple times in the 1950s. The Baltimore Chapter has pre-tourist
EBT photos from at least four photographers that I know of, and none of them, to my knowledge, show anything "new."

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:03 pm

Update from the FEBT newsletter for September 2013:

Quote:

In conjunction with the property sale, the Kovalchick Salvage Company has offered for sale the EBT hopper cars that have long sat idle in the Mount Union yard. Selected cars of historic value have been reserved by the East Broad Top Preservation Association, based on a survey of the yard’s contents by Gilliland and FEBT President Lee Rainey. Additional cars and parts—especially trucks—with a role in future FEBT restoration and interpretive projects were identified by a crew led by FEBT steel-car expert Steve Jacobs, and the FEBT is in discussion with the salvage company about acquiring these items.
These positive developments point strongly to a resumption of tourist operations in 2014.

More here: http://www.febt.org/Nl/nl201309.pdf

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

what is the status for the rest of the railroad, the standard guage area with the mini shop with the 0-6-0?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:02 am

ebtrr wrote:

Re: USATC Boxcars

They are standard gauge US Army Transportation boxcars. Do not know their history prior to arrival at the EBT. Story #1) They were purchased by Kovanckick Salvage in the early 1960's for resale, but they have cast iron wheels and ceased to be interchange compliant and so were stranded. Story #2) USATC was paying Kovalchick to store them but they stopped paying. When pressed about rent, they transferred the cars to KS in lieu of rent.

Anyway, there are 15 cars in Mount Union and eight or so in Burnam. Below are the car nmbers for the ones in MU. They are ordered north to south. Sides and floors are wood with metal frames, ends are presed steel. Not sure about roofs. All have fire damage inside to varying degrees, but seem structurally sound due to the steel frame. Wheels are cast iron, trucks are cast (not arch-bar.) Might be able to roll north end car(s) to loadable area with a little track and bearing work.

By all accounts they are not part of the sale to the EBTPA. I bet Joe would sell them for the right price, but I also bet it will be more than scrap value.

22101 in the late 1960's:
http://www.spikesys.com/Bin/EBT/w9051d.jpg
22101 in 2001
http://www.spikesys.com/Bin/EBT/22020.jpg

1 1 22101 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 2 22134 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 3 22106 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 4 22104 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 5 22143 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 6 22127 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 7 2215? Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 8 22146 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 9 22140 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 10 22118 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 11 22116 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 12 22112 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 13 22126 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 14 22139 Boxcar USATC standard gauge
1 15 22141 Boxcar USATC standard gauge

I received photographic confirmation this morning from a railroad official in Pa. that the USATC boxcars at Mt. Union are now destroyed--several photos (which I do not have permission to repost yet, and probably won't get), showing piles of rubble, a large mound of metal scrap, burning debris, and friction-bearing cast-wheel trucks stenciled with several of the numbers listed above, all in the snow, with known Mount Union landmarks in the background.